


In Sickness and in Death

by mxlfyss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cancer, Draco Malfoy - Freeform, Drarry, Harry Potter - Freeform, M/M, draco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-12 15:24:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11739837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxlfyss/pseuds/mxlfyss
Summary: After a long and painful battle with bone cancer, Draco passes away peacefully. Harry tries to make peace with the loss of Draco but cannot seem to do so. He tries to relive the happy memories, and lives through the happy times he had with Draco.





	1. The End

Draco Malfoy died on an October afternoon, with the breeze blowing gently through the cracked window in the hospital room. What was left of his white-blonde hair twitched as their air flowed over him, tickling his lifeless face. He was always very pale, but before today, Harry had never seen him quite so drained of color. For the past few hours, he had sat by Draco, holding his hand, drawing tiny little circles. 

Harry knew it had been a long battle for Draco, and he tried his best to keep reminding himself that he’d no longer spend nights awake and suffering, and there’d be no more trips to the emergency room, no more broken ribs and no more bruises on his feet from walking down the stairs. Harry tried to remind himself, that Draco wanted the peace of death. He simply couldn’t have taken another day of being alive and sick. But all he could remember was Draco’s smell, and the glimmer in his gray-blue eyes, his sweet smile, and the feeling of running his fingers through his hair at night. Harry couldn’t help but realize that he could never have it again, he would never hold hands with him again. He would never be able to fall asleep in his arms, and never be able to hear his voice first thing in the morning, and he’d never be able to stay up until dawn again, laughing and watching their favorite films.

He laid his head on Draco’s chest, some part of him wishing and praying to hear his heartbeat again, but he couldn’t. Tears burned Harry’s eyes, as he held his boyfriend’s hand tighter. He wanted every last moment he could have with him, because the nurses would now take him away at any moment. He stayed like that for a short amount of time, before he heard gentle footsteps behind him.

“Honey?” The soft voice said. “I’m sorry, dear. We have to-” She broke off, and laid her hand on Harry’s shoulder and felt herself choke up. “It’s time to take him now.”

“Ma’am.” Harry felt tears fall down his cheek. “Please, let me go with him.”

“I’m very sorry m’dear.” She said in her sweet voice. “We have to.”

Harry wanted to fight. He wanted to scream and thrash and beg to stay the night with him, but was too exhausted, and he wanted Draco’s last hours in his presence to have the most peaceful end. He nodded, now crying softly. Walking up to the head of the bed, he bent down and kissed Draco’s forehead. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered through tears. “Sleep well, my love.”

A new nurse was now there, and supported Harry’s back as he walked away from Draco, and two others unhooked the machines from Draco’s body, and one gently shut his eyes, before beginning to wheel him away. And everything was black from there, as Harry collapsed to the hospital floor, the nurse that was beside him before, now cradling him in his arms, trying to soothe him as sobs racked his body. He tried to fight out of her arms and go to Draco, but gave up, and he realized it was truly the end.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of the beginning of it all.

2.

Draco woke up at about midnight that July night, and turned to see Harry sleeping peacefully next to him. He was awoken by a sharp pain radiating through his right ribcage, and sat up abruptly, clutching his side and swallowing large gulps of air. He turned to get out of bed, hoping maybe a glass of water and some stretching might help him.

At first he was okay walking, but then the pain in his ribs caused him to double over, clutching the dresser in the room as he struggled not to collapse. He wheezed with every breath, trying to collect himself. He was now audibly crying in pain, and Harry soon woke up to the sound of Draco in agony. 

“Sweetie?” He asked in a sleepy, raspy voice from across the room.

All he could hear was Draco whimpering in pain, silently begging for help. Harry leaped out of bed, rushing to his boyfriend’s side, wrapping his arms around the shaking blonde, trying to soothe him. He stroked his hair, trying to calm him down in any way he could think of.

“Shhh.” He cooed softly into Draco’s ear. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just breathe, baby, just breathe.” Draco shook in Harry’s arms as he clutched his side still, mouthing the words ‘hurt. It hurts.’ 

Harry was eventually able to interpret that Draco was referring to his ribcage and it was causing him immense pain. He gently helped him stand up, supporting him with both arms. 

“We’re taking you to the hospital.” Harry said softly to him. “This isn’t normal.” 

Draco was still crying quietly as Harry led him back to the bed, and sat him down. He walked to the dresser, grabbing a shirt and sweatpants for Draco. He walked back to him, and helped him to put his top on, being as careful as possible, as Draco wined and whimpered with every breath.

“I’m sorry sweetie, I’m sorry..” He said sweetly. “It’s gonna be okay, it’s all gonna be okay.”

Eventually he helped Draco get his pants and a pair of slippers on, and lifted him into his arms, cradling him like a baby, leading him down the front steps of their flat, and to Harry’s car. He opened the door, gently sitting Draco down and buckling his seatbelt. Harry then got into the driver’s seat, and drove as quickly as possible to the emergency room. Draco writhed in pain through the entire ride, and Harry held his hand, trying to comfort him. 

“We’re here now darling, we’re gonna get you all better. It’s okay.” Harry told Draco.

He got out of the car, and quickly walked to Draco’s side, and helped him out, carrying him to the entrance. Once inside, he went to the receptionist’s desk, explaining the situation to her. She pointed Harry to a seat in the waiting room and gave him some paperwork. Once sitting down, Draco was curled up in his boyfriend’s lap, and holding onto his hand tightly. 

Harry would look down at him every few seconds, making sure he was alright. He toyed with his blonde, disheveled hair, keeping him calm. Draco was doing okay for the first portion of it, but then Harry heard a terrifying crackling noise, and looked down to see Draco wheezing once more, blood now trickling down his lips.

“HELP!” He screamed, dropping the clipboard he was given at once. “HELP! HE NEEDS HELP NOW!” Harry cried out, holding Draco tightly. A couple nurses heard Harry’s screams, and came over to him. 

“What’s wr-” The nurse was cut off when she saw the blood pooling on the floor below Draco. “Oh my God.” She called for another doctor, who came out with a stretcher and they helped Draco onto it, strapping an oxygen mask to his face, and began wheeling him to a hospital room.

Immediately they began hooking him up to machines, reading his heart rate and blood pressure. He was barely conscious, as Harry stayed by his side, still holding his hand. The nurse who had helped recently got an IV bag prepped, and got the needle ready to inject into Draco. 

“This will sting just a tiny bit, honey.” She said, and Draco nodded quietly as she did so. “There we go. Good job. Hang in there for me, you’re doing so great.”

As she and another doctor finished hooking up Draco to countless machines, they began talking to Harry and asking about what had happened. Harry explained to them that it had happened suddenly, in the middle of the night. The nurse suggested that they would do an x-ray, as the pain was located in Draco’s ribs. As it was needed quite urgently, the doctors did so, as well as administered a dose of morphine which calmed Draco tremendously as they performed the x-ray.

****

A couple hours later, after the exam was finished, Draco now laid calmly in the hospital bed, Harry still by his side, stroking his hair. They were like this for a little bit of time, and Draco even fell asleep a couple times for five-minute intervals. They waited for the results, until about six-a.m. the next morning. A doctor, maybe in his sixties then entered the room, holding a small packet of papers. Harry’s stomach churned, as the doctor pulled a chair in front of the two, sitting down and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Hi.” He said to them, smiling slightly. “My name is Dr. Birmingham, I am an oncologist here at at Crosstown hospital.” 

Harry gulped hard. Oncologist. Cancer doctor. This can’t be happening. He gripped Draco’s hand tighter, and felt a cold sweat from his boyfriend’s hand. 

“I have examined your x-rays, Mr. Malfoy, and…” He paused, and took a paper from the packet he brought in, and flashed it to them. “You see these tiny dots all around?” He was referencing to Draco’s ribcage. “These are all, they’re tumors.” He finished the sentence abruptly. “Mr. Malfoy, I’m very sorry. You appear to have stage three bone cancer.” 

Harry’s heart dropped and he felt Draco’s hand drop from his. The room fell silent for at least ten minutes, before Harry looked back up to Dr. Birmingham. 

“Doctor…” He said, his voice cracking. “How...how long does he have?” 

The doctor removed his glasses. “Well, Mr. Potter, the maximum we have seen is two years at this stage. That’s only here though. Some people live many, many years. With Draco’s diagnosis and his...tumors, I...I’d say, his maximum is a year, or maybe a year and a half.” 

Harry held Draco’s hand once more, trying to soothe him. Dr Birmingham stood up, gathering his papers and smiling kindly at the two. “There are many treatment options.” He told them. “I cannot guarantee they will cure him, but they will ease the progression of the illness. I would like to schedule an appointment with you for next Tuesday, at four p.m. We then can discuss chemotherapy and other treatments. For now, I am giving Draco a prescription for morphine to help the pain.”

Draco was discharged later that afternoon, in better condition, enough to talk, walk, and almost function normally. The drive back to their flat was silent, and once there Harry made him his favorite soup, and a cup of tea. The two stayed up quite late that night, almost until daylight the next morning. Harry carried Draco up to bed when they were tired enough, where he wrapped him in blankets and held him tightly.

“Harry…” He heard Draco say through tears. “I’m scared. I’m scared. I don’t want to die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I hope this is good! I almost didn't want to continue but saw I had some kudos on this story, and decided to add a chapter. I haven't written this much in quite a long time, so I hope it is okay! Please leave comments or any constructive criticism, and thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so the formatting for this is a little different and starts with the (kind of) climax. This is just to get the story started. If you read, thank you so much and feel free to leave some constructive criticism as this is my first Drarry fic.


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